WordPress has released a sidebar widget for Twitter, so I went ahead and added it to Untamed Beer, just under the categories. Do you think it’s useful or obnoxious to have it there? I’m torn. I like the cross-pollination, but wonder if it’s too much. Let me know what you think, or even if you have no opinion at all.

7 Responses to Twitter on the sidebar

1. Most people tweet on a wide range of topics so the tweets look out of place on the blog.

2. If you’re participating in a conversation on Twitter, visitors to the blog only see half of the conversation. Or, if you’re displaying @ messages, visitors will see a lot of spammy marketing messages.

Excellent points. I think #2 is my most common complaint about Twitter anyway. When you are looking at a thread of people you’re following, half of them are replies and you have no idea what the context is. And on a blog, it’s REALLY out of context.

Thank you for your feedback, I’m sure I’ll be removing the Twitter widget soon, unless someone can present a compelling argument of why it should be there.

I think it’s a fine idea to include tweets on your blog. That’s what twitter is, a micro-blog after all. The widget in question might be annoying however if you can’t control what get’s posted to your blog. Like stated earlier including the @reply’s is probably useless, but if you use your tweets as a way to send out cool links or info to your followers why not cross the streams? (though sometimes crossing the streams ends up in total particle reversal…)

Unfortunately, the only control they give you is the header name and the number of tweets to display.

I love WordPress, but I have to admit, while they often add cool features, somehow they seem to stop short of taking the effort to make them “awesome” on a lot of them. It’s like they listen to their users and add stuff, but don’t feel like going to the next level of awesomeness.

I would agree to a certain extent that 90% of Twitter is silliness. But that other 10% is incredibly powerful. How else can I get the thoughts of people like Charlie Papazian, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Shaquille O’Neal directly from their own brains? Not only that, but I can actually contact them and get a response, brief though it may be.

The key to Twitter, in my opinion, is to use it as a tool for following good information providers. I pay attention to people who send out news and links that are applicable to my interests. I, in turn, try to share valuable information back to the community.

My boy Joe Tye has a video where he explains the power and good use of Twitter. It’s a great perspective: